Posts Tagged ‘
Zardari ’

We wrote last week about the lack of attention being paid to one of the biggest sources of pre-poll rigging going on in Pakistan – the way media reports all manner of unfounded rumours and gossips against politicians. The example we used in our last post was a story in The News that accused PML-N chief […]

Speaking at a forum in Washington earlier this year, President GEO TV Imran Aslam proudly described his channel’s political activism. He spent most of the time talking about activism against the Hudood ordinances – a great example for an American audience, but hardly the only (or most common) issue. Actually, when the moderator asked if […]

If a chair falls, is it news worthy of the front page of the nation’s largest media group? Apparently the answer is yes. Sunday’s edition of The News (Jang Group) featured a front page story about…a chair tipping over. As the president stood up to deliver his fifth presidential address to the joint session of parliament, […]

A report in The News today serves as an excellent example of how the media’s power to shape the way we perceive events can be used to serve a political agenda. According to reporter Sohail Khan, former Senator Azam Swati (PTI) through his counsel Tariq Asad has petitioned the Supreme Court to place the name […]

Immediately following the president’s departure, media began speculating that the president would not return. Zardari’s brief trip to Dubai for medical treatment was immediately jumped on by the usual suspects who added another chapter to their never ending predictions of the president’s early departure, or immature and petty insults by the type of ‘freelance journalist’ […]

When Asif Zardari was whisked away to Dubai last week, rumours of a coup began to swirl in the tail winds of the president’s helicopter. As usual, this was the same show by the same old media circus with countless ‘journalists’ filing reports based on drawing room gossip and overactive imaginations. As the truth began […]

On Tuesday, President Zardari left for Dubai to receive medical treatment. Within minutes, the media circus began and rumours of a coup began to circulate. While no one has yet to provide a single piece of evidence suggesting that Zardari will resign or a coup is imminent, the story continues to dominate media headlines. Part […]

As floods continue to devastate the lives of countless people, we knew it was only a matter of time before someone decided to use the disaster to score political points. During last year’s floods, it was a popular media line to claim that flood relief would have been greater if only the world did not […]

The problem of political bias in reporting is an ongoing topic of this blog and others. This is a failure of journalistic ethics and professionalism that, unfortunately, is rampant in our media. But rarely do we have the opportunity to see such a textbook example of this behaviour as we do today. Last year, at […]

The recent violence that engulfed Karachi was a tragedy of immense proportions. If any good can come of such a tragedy, it will begin by taking a critical look at the root causes of violent outbreaks, and work towards a solution that respects the rights and the needs of all Karachiites. Unfortunately, this discussion is […]